Welcome to the online blog for DentaQuest, a leader in oral health, committed to improving oral health through access, innovation and affordability.
Through open and ongoing conversation, we hope to provide you with expert advice and information on best practices in dental care.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

In National Minority Health Month, Oral Health for All.

We, as a nation, are committed to
principles of fairness, diversity and inclusion. Those principles guide
our commitment to reject discrimination or harassment.

As a leading oral health enterprise,
DentaQuest strives to honor the differences among people, especially cultural
and linguistic differences, in all our interactions. When we celebrate
differences, we provide better dental benefits management for all our clients,
we provide more effective resources to our community-focused work of our
Foundation, and we improve the clinical care of people wherever our Institute’s
programs are implemented. DentaQuest’s mission explicitly states
we are focused on improving the oral health of ALL. In the business of
oral health, it is hard to miss the fact that not everyone is included in ALL.

Recognizing that there are
disparities in health care is critical to understanding how compelling our mission
really is. Think for a minute – should any child be relegated to a
troubled life based on his or her lack of connection to health care?
Yet some, mostly children in communities of color and especially those
who are poor, bear a greater burden of oral disease throughout their entire
lives. Health disparities make it certain that those who already
carry heavy life burdens will also suffer with persistent mouth pain,
diminished economic opportunities, and diminished overall life expectancy.

That is why we applaud the National
Office of Minority Health as they launch an online oral health
curriculum that provides guidance on delivering culturally and
linguistically appropriate services to better meet the needs of our
increasingly diverse communities. It will be an important resource for
health professionals across the clinical care spectrum and a helpful addition
to the work of other groups, such as the
National Interprofessional Initiative on Oral Health whose “Smiles for Life” Curriculum has been endorsed by multiple clinical care
professions, and also the DentaQuest Institute’s Online Learning Center where learning modules emphasize
oral disease prevention and management.

The Oral Health 2020 campaign that the
DentaQuest Foundation announced earlier this year
echoes the voices of people in communities who challenge all of us to
“raise the bar and close the gap” in oral health inequality. The Oral
Health 2020 goal that intends to have 75% of all children reach age 5 without a
cavity by 2020 doesn’t seem like much of a stretch: 70% of children across the
U.S. already reach age 5 without a cavity. As we dig deeper
and look into what those numbers tell us, we find that differences across
socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity, make that 70% threshold less
reliable. We have to consider everyone –
All.

We
can all get behind the Oral Health 2020 campaign goals by better understanding
the data and determining where disparities are greatest. We continuously
promote awareness and understanding of how culturally competent literacy programs
can advance the work of everyone as we focus on the importance of oral health
in itself and to overall health. We are seeking out culturally and
linguistically focused community partners to work with us to reach communities
where disparities persist, and collectively,
we are developing strategies that will bring all children to our target goal.

We
hope that 75% of ALL children reach age 5 without a cavity by 2020.
Let’s close the gap and create a country where we are proud to claim that there
is equity in oral health, as we work to prevent disease and make access to care
more available for those who need it.